Before the Muggle Wedding
by CommanderValeria
Summary: Sirius reflects on his friendship with Severus before walking his daughter down the aisle to marry Severus's son.


Sirius paced back and forth in the vestibule of the Muggle church, tugging on his bowtie. He shouldn't be nervous. He'd done this once before and with the same daughter to boot. Last time, when she'd married her husband in the wizarding world, he'd walked her down the aisle on his own. This time she wanted both her fathers with her.

The other man was _technically_ Adara's father-in-law, Sirius's former nemesis and his current… friend, Severus Snape. James was probably having a good laugh about this. He and Lily would have been a welcome addition to this little family his wife, Lucy, and Severus's wife, Dinah, had managed to mash them into.

"Oh, don't give me that look," he grumbled and Severus just snorted. He was beginning to understand Lucy's penchant for flustering the man by kissing him on the cheek. At least if Sirius did that he wouldn't be the only one unsettled.

The other man raised one eyebrow at him.

"If you don't quit with the look I'm putting a niffler down your pants," Sirius threatened.

"First you'd have to find a way to access my pants."

"Oh, I could find ways," he pulled out his wand and playfully waved it about. There were no Muggles around and he had no fear of repercussions… yet.

Severus smirked. "We've already seen the results of going back there with Thomas and James during his seventh year. Do you really want to revisit it?"

"Dinah might hit me again if I did that… and probably somewhere far more sensitive in my face this time."

"And that is why she knows you wouldn't dare do such a thing."

"Are you sure I'm not more worried about Adara exacting revenge for disrupting her wedding? She's got quite the temper you know."

"Happily for us, she's Thomas's responsibility now."

"Is that what you thought about Seth and May?" he leaned against the wall, settling down.

"Finished pacing, have we?" That eyebrow went up again.

"For the moment. She's done this before. You'd think the second time wouldn't take so long."

"Aunt Mildred went up there. I think that's explanation enough."

"Maybe we should send Seth up to entice her back down," Sirius could only imagine what sort of stresses the enthusiastic older lady was putting on the bride.

"Mmm, he is useful like that," Severus smirked.

Sirius sighed and turned to look at the stairs where his eldest daughter would descend and make her final journey to marry the man she loved for a second time. A man she'd loved since she was a newborn. "She's as much yours as she ever was ours you know," he murmured as Seth practically dragged Mildred down the stairs and in to her seat, "They all are really."

"Thank you for taking this in stride. I would not have pressed the issue."

"Hmm?" he turned back to the other man, "Both of us walking her you mean? It's what she wanted," he shrugged, "Wouldn't you do anything to make May happy? It's the same with my girls."

"There was a time I think we both would have been highly threatened by such a thing, but if May had thought to ask the same, I agree, the thought doesn't bother me."

"I don't think threatened is quite the word but certainly… _not happy_. I blame the wives. They forced this life upon us." And Sirius didn't mind that in the least.

"They do have a habit of thrusting many things on us."

"And that's how we ended up with child number three," he referred to Dara, who was born a short eleven months after her older brother, "Lucy would have you believing it was me. It wasn't, it was her. She can be shy in public you know."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"You know very well you and Dinah don't count as public."

"It has been a… long time since I've seen Lucy shy. Though Dara has clearly inherited that trait as well as her mother's… emotional habits." He looked a bit nostalgic.

"It's good that none of them had to grow up like we did. I guess we, uh, broke the cycle as Dinah would say." Sirius started pacing a bit again, "I'm glad none of my kids ended up in Slytherin, mostly just because it would have made my parents happy. Even if they had though I _never_ would have treated them the way my parents treated me. And we both know Lucy has made sure those kids know they're cared for."

"Mm, yes. They are all becoming rather… amazing individuals, aren't they?"

"Uncle Sev are you talking about me? Telling Papa how wise I am? I think he already knows." The bride emerged into the hall in all her finery. The dress was not the same one she'd worn to her wizard wedding. That one had been pretty and sweet, just like Dara. This one was far too tight as far as her father was concerned; even though Lucy assured him it wasn't tight at all. It was also covered in lace like her other dress and she wore the same veil that framed her face and her black waves that she'd inherited from him.

"Today you are one of the wisest women on Earth."

"You're just saying that because I'm marrying your son today," she teased.

"And this does not make you wise?" his eyebrow rose.

Dara shrugged, "I don't much care either way. It makes me happy."

"That makes you very wise indeed," Sirius came over and kissed the top of her head.

"Papa! My hair!" she squealed.

Her words were a reminder of the child she used to be; always so concerned with keeping her "hairs" just so when they'd been done up special. "How dare I forget," he looked over at Severus, whose memories seemed to be reflecting his own.

Sirius took her right arm while Severus moved to take her left. "Come on. Let's go get you married to the boy. He's been waiting a long time for you. His whole life."


End file.
